The Curse of Metal Alice
by Darien Fawkes
Summary: Following on from "Lights, Camera, Rangers!" The Rangers have a lot to deal with. Between the murder of General Edwards, and Emma revealing herself to her parents, not to mention the emergence of a new threat in Vrak's latest follower, Metal Alice. But is there more to her than meets the eye? And are the final days of the war really at hand?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This story will cover the final arc of the current season of Megaforce. Note that I'm going to be seriously changing up Metal Alice's character, and a lot of the details surrounding the robot section of the war. Hope you all enjoy it.

**Legal:** I do not own Power Rangers or the associated names, places, characters, events etc. Anything not covered by the above rights should be considered to be purely the creation of the author.

**Rating:** T-Will contain mild adult themes and language.

Gia just continued to stare, unable to believe what Emma had done. It was one of the first things all of the Rangers had been told after their first battle. Knowledge of their true identities was a dangerous thing to have. While the Space Rangers, most of whom had been forced to live underground, or flee the world altogether after their tenure were a somewhat extreme version of a cautionary tale, they had already experienced some of the pitfalls of people finding out who they were.

Ernie had put his life on the line to save Gia from Spider's bomb before he let her know that he knew who she was. Cat had been targeted before, and then there was Spider...a guy that through virtue of knowing who they were had not only been turned into a monster, but because he threatened to expose their identities if he wasn't set free, had been subjected to...well...they still didn't know what Gosei had done to him, but since he was now in a psychiatric secure unit within the prison, under regular sedation to keep him under control, they weren't certain they wanted to know.

Now, Jordan's dad, General Edwards, had been murdered by Metal Alice, likely for no other reason than he was connected to the Rangers, even if he didn't actually know who they were.

Eric and Louise...to say they were speechless, the word would have had to be redefined. In one afternoon, they had seen General Edwards being buried, found out Wayne was leaving town, and now as they were trying to discuss whether or not there was some way they could raise the capitol to buy out Wayne's shares in Cerberus, Emma had come into the room, announced she had something to tell them, and before anyone could stop her had morphed into the Pink Ranger before their very eyes. After a pause that seemed to last for hours, Emma took off her helmet, looking down at her father and his girlfriend.

"Um...I should probably tell Cat to call back." Gia told them, heading back upstairs. Emma just remained, waiting for her dad or Louise to say something, anything at all about the revelation.

"You're...you're the Pink Ranger?" Eric finally asked her. Emma just nodded wordlessly. It had weighed heavily on her heart keeping this from him for all those months. Since she'd lost her mother, she and her dad had been inseparable. There was nothing they didn't tell each other, nothing they couldn't share. Emma had even told him about Gia's sexuality, and the fact that she had been in love with her before she asked him if it would be alright if she moved in. The thing she hated more than anything else was the lies she had to tell her father so that he wouldn't find out. She had gone along with what everyone told her that it was for her own good, but now after all this time, after he and Louise had already been kidnapped once, and General Edwards had ended up dead, she had finally had enough. How could keeping him in the dark keep him safe now? How could he defend himself if he didn't even know what he was defending himself from? "How?...When?"

"I've been the Pink Ranger since the Rangers first showed up." She told him, tears beginning to run down her face. "I've...I've been the Pink Ranger all this time."

"And Gia knew..." Louise started to say, before it finally clicked. Of course Gia knew...all those injuries, the sudden interest in improving her Martial Arts...all those bruises and injuries she suffered in training with Troy... "Giana Ciara Moran! Come down here right now!"

"How though?" Eric asked, still completely confused as to what was going on. "All those weapons...the powers..."

"We were given our powers by an alien called Gosei." She started to explain as Gia got down the stairs, looking a little sheepish. Even at 17, she knew she was in deep trouble when her mom middle-named her. "He...he's the son of the one that gave the first Ranger team their powers 20 years ago. He picked us to become the latest team of Rangers to battle the Warstar."

"Really?" Louise asked, throwing up her hands. "So out of all 7 billion people in the world, when there are trained soldiers, marines, police, Government Agents...he chose two seventeen year old girls?"

"Sixteen." Emma murmured. "We...um...we were still 16 when we were chosen."

"Oh, that is just perfect!" Louise responded sharply. "Wait...that group you hang around with...you're not telling me...?"

Emma just nodded. It wasn't that they had anything against them, but the fact was, before the beginning of the year, she and Gia didn't really hang around with Noah and Jake. They knew who they were, sure, but only as passing acquaintances. Troy, he was the new kid in town, and yet they had started hanging out with him almost as soon as he had arrived. Jordan was almost the same story, they seemed to take to hanging out with him with seemingly no explanation. It wasn't like Louise wasn't happy to see them expanding their social circles beyond each other, but now it all just seemed to make sense.

"Oh, great, that's just..."

"Louise, try to calm down." Eric told her.

"They're KIDS Eric!" Louise yelled at him. "This Gosei has taken KIDS and thrown them into a freaking war! People have died!"

"I'm not happy about it either." Eric stated, stroking her shoulders, trying to calm her down. He looked to Emma. "Um...can you...you know...change back or whatever you call it?"

Emma activated the command to de-morph, continuing to look down at Eric's feet as he approached her. She couldn't bear to look at him, knowing that he had to be disappointed in her, that she had lied to him all this time. He put a hand under her chin, lifting her head up to look at him.

"Why didn't you come to me?" He asked her.

"I wanted to." She told him honestly, wiping her tears from her eyes. "I wanted to so many times, but Gosei...he kept telling us that it was for the best that people didn't know. We were made to swear right from the start that we wouldn't tell anyone...it was one of the rules..."

"Rules?" Louise asked them. "This alien press-ganged you into a war, then gives you rules to make you lie to your parents about it?"

"It's not exactly like that." Gia explained. "We're not allowed to use our powers for personal gain. If we do, we'll lose them."

"We're not allowed to escalate a battle. We can only respond with necessary force." Emma continued.

"I guess that explains why you don't just bring out those giant robot things..."

"Zords." Emma told him. "Um...they were named after Zordon, Gosei's dad."

"Why you don't just call your Zords and stomp the monsters flat from the get go." He corrected himself. "But that Robo Knight guy...?"

"Yeah...we had a few teething problems with Jordan." Gia stated. "It's a long story."

"And we were told that for the safety of the people we care about, we weren't meant to tell anyone our identities." Emma concluded. "We haven't been stripped of our powers when others..."

"Wait...others?" Louise asked. "Other people know about this?"

"Former Rangers mostly." Gia explained. "We have...kind of an understanding it's alright if other Rangers know, as long as no one starts revealing the identities of anyone that's not been revealed."

"I really didn't want to keep this from you for so long." Emma told them, her voice cracking a little under the strain. "I know I've lied, and I know I've kept stuff from you, but I thought I was doing the right thing. Now though, after everything, after General Edwards...I just...I can't do it anymore. How can you stay safe if you don't know you're in danger?"

Eric looked into Emma's eyes and all he could see was his little girl, completely breaking her heart. He had never kept much from her, but he knew all too well that sometimes there were things he just couldn't tell her. He had only reluctantly told her about some of the things he had to do in the course of his work after she found out about how he saved Gia from her father...thinking about it now, he realised that she hadn't found out at all. The Pink Ranger had been there. Emma had seen it with her own eyes when Eric had turned a gun on Mr Moran.

"I'm really sorry dad." She whimpered. Eric just pulled her in, hugging her tightly.

"I understand." He told her. "Thank you for finally telling us."

As Gia looked to her mom, Louise just sighed and shrugged.

"Well, I guess I'm not happy about all the lies." She told her daughter. "But...I guess it's better late than never."

"If it means anything, I can see why this...Gosei...has chosen you both." Eric assured Emma. "That said, I think it's probably for the best if we don't exactly go letting everyone know. Not everyone is exactly friendly to the Rangers."

"Don't we know it?" Gia groaned, rolling her eyes. "But I guess, I am kind of glad we don't have to lie to the two of you about this anymore."

"Wait...you're not seriously thinking about...you're really going to keep doing this do you?" Louise asked.

"I don't really think we have a choice in the matter." Gia answered. "It's kind of our duty now."

"I guess I can understand that." Eric replied. "Alright, it's um...it's been a big day. I think it's for the best we all just get some rest."

"Dad..."

"Emma, please, I've just had kind of a lot of information for one day." He told her. "I really just need some time to process it all."

Emma just nodded, before she and Gia headed upstairs to their room. Eric just sat on the couch, running his hands through his hair as Louise came to his side.

"I guess a lot of things make a lot more sense now." He replied as he took a small drink from his glass.

"Eric, what are we going to do about this?" She asked him.

"What can we do?" He asked her. "I guess we do what any parents do. We just sit at home, and hope that everything we've taught them lets them make the right choices."

"In the meantime, we just have to go out of our minds with worry, hoping that they actually come home each night?" She shrieked. He just nodded.

"I guess so." He answered as he held her closely.

In her underwater base, Metal Alice was working on some computers when Vrak appeared on the viewing screen.

"My Lord!" she greeted him.

"Admiral Malkor's transformation is underway. There is no way I can guarantee how long he will be in his cocoon." He told her. "Are things progressing down there?"

"The systems in the base are running at eighty five percent efficiency." She informed him.

"Eighty Five percent?" He asked in response. "Time is of the essence. The Rangers will not be left reeling from the General's assassination for long, and Malkor is getting closer to hatching from his cocoon each day. How long until we can send...?"

"Anything over twenty percent efficiency should be enough to destroy a city." She told him. "I already have a preliminary design in the process of being created."

Punching in a few commands, there was a massive cloud of smoke from the corner of the room, before a door opened. She stood aside to let Vrak see the robot stepping out of the machine.

"I'd like you to meet Rotox." She introduced him. "The next generation in robotic technology, and the one that will make all the creatures in Malkor's army obsolete."

"I see you've been busy." He commented. "What exactly can this robot do?"

"I'll give you a demonstration." She stated, converting her tablet into sword mode, before rushing towards Rotox. She hammered into the machine a couple of times, before he swung a hand, smashing her across the room. Her left leg was ripped completely from her body, exposing wiring and circuitry. She called Rotox off, before retrieving her tablet, and pulling herself to her one remaining leg on the console.

"As you know, you created me as your most powerful weapons system." Metal Alice reminded him as her severed leg returned to her, re-attaching itself and activating the self-repair system. "Nothing the Rangers possess will be a match for his strength."

"You are as cunning as you are indestructible." He replied, sounding impressed. "How long until he is ready for battle?"

"He is already complete." Metal Alice told him.

"Then have him powered up and sent out immediately." Vrak instructed her. "Take advantage of the Rangers' fractured state of mind."

"My Lord, if I may make a recommendation, the human body operates at its least efficient early in the morning, shortly after waking up." She told him. "It would be tactically prudent to wait for now and attack in the early hours at first light."

"That is quite cunning." He complimented her.

"I do not possess cunning." She corrected him. "That would be a human trait. I possess merely the ability to process probability and strategic analysis."

"Whatever, just send Rotox to battle them when you see fit." He told her. As the screen went dark, Metal Alice approached Rotox, inspecting him thoughtfully.

"This test will be a tremendous opportunity to gather data." She stated. "And dare I say...more than a little fun."

Early the next morning, Troy was having breakfast with his parents when Jordan came into the room. He was dressed in sports gear, and carrying a soccer ball.

"So, when are we heading to the park?" Jordan asked him. Mr Burrows just looked to him sympathetically.

"Jordan, are you sure about this?" He asked. "No one expects you to just shrug this off."

"Staying in my room isn't going to help either." Jordan stated. "I'm going back to school on Monday, and the Stone Canyon game's been re-scheduled. I need to figure out tactics with Jake."

"Look, no one wants to see you feeling better than I do." Troy assured him. "But, there is such a thing as rushing it. The funeral was only yesterday."

"Yeah, so now that's been dealt with." Jordan answered. Troy was more than a little troubled by his answer, and by the looks of things, his parents were a little troubled by it too. By now, they knew that Jordan had found out that General Edwards wasn't really his father. They knew it had been a shock, and that his relationship with the General had been strained at best, but since the funeral, it was like he was trying to shut the whole thing out. He was acting as though the fact General Edwards wasn't his biological father should mean that his death was meaningless to him.

"Jordan..."

"I said I'm fine." Jordan told them. "Now, the sooner I can get back to normal, the better."

This was kind of a difficult thing to hear. Indeed, they did want him to get to as close to a normal life as possible. He was going to have to get back to a routine at some point or another, but it didn't seem healthy the way he was trying to just pretend that General Edward's passing meant nothing to him. No matter how difficult their relationship had been, no matter what the truth of their lack of a blood relationship was, it had to have had at least some impact on him.

"I've already called the others." Troy informed Jordan, as much to assure his parents that Jordan wouldn't be alone as anything else. "They're going to meet us out there."

"Well, it is a nice day out." Mr Burrows told them as Jordan started to load up his plate with toast. "Give me a call later and I can pick you up."

Jordan just nodded as he started on his breakfast. He didn't really want to talk, he didn't really want to think much about anything. Time to think was precisely the last thing he needed. Right now, he needed to be doing something, anything at all to keep his mind occupied. Vrak hadn't been kind enough to send anything for him to destroy lately, likely for exactly this reason. Until he had something to beat into submission, he guessed a game of soccer with his friends was going to have to suffice.


	2. The First Robot

At the park, Gia and Emma were leaning on the rail by the edge of the lake as Jake, Noah, Troy and Jordan played soccer. Although Troy and Noah weren't actually on the school team, they had agreed to help out where Jordan needed more than two opponents to demonstrate some of his 'tactics' for dealing with the much more physical Stone Canyon team. Most people knew the Stone Canyon Cavemen by reputation.

They were described as a 'physical' or 'rugged' team, but that was really just a euphemism for 'rough as all hell'. They thought nothing about keeping other players off the ball by virtually any means necessary, including having a number of dirty plays that were designed to keep some pretty blatant rules infractions out of the view of the ref. A lot of their games were known for two thing, an unusually high number of warnings and yellow cards, and most of the opposing team limping off the field. It wasn't a style that Harwood was used to, and in the last seven years, of the fourteen games they had played, Harwood had only won four. Jordan was hoping to change that, by showing his team mates how to counter the 'tactics' favoured by the Stone Canyon defenders.

As Noah hung off Jordan, holding him back, Jordan quickly shifted his weight, dumping him hard on the ground. Quinn let out a little squeal from the bench she was sitting on nearby.

"Wow...um...Jordan's pretty intense when he gets going." Emma commented. Gia just nodded wordlessly, before looking back to the lake. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"I'm just thinking about how messed up things are getting." Gia admitted. "I thought when we dealt with the mutants, things would start to get better, but if anything they're getting worse."

"Gia..."

"Emma, I know why you told our parents, trust me, I get it. I've thought about telling mom so many times." She carried on. "I miss Cat like crazy. Honestly, it terrifies me to think that one day she'll get fed up waiting for a girlfriend hundreds of miles away that has probably the most insane life in history and cuts her losses, but at the same time, I'm glad she's safe. If I had my way, I'd send mom out of town too."

"It is getting pretty intense." Emma admitted. "I mean, I know our friends, our families are always in danger here, but the way Alice...um...you know..."

She just jerked her head in Jordan's direction just as he was wrestling Jake off him, sending him to the ground. Allison called out in disapproval from the sidelines, screaming at Jordan for the unnecessary and highly illegal manoeuvre.

"I have to admit I'm kind of worried about him." Gia told her best friend sadly. "I don't claim to be a psychologist or anything, but he just...it doesn't seem right the way he's acting."

"Troy's worried about him too." Emma informed her. Troy had called her a few times, just to keep her up to date on what was happening, and more importantly so they could just talk and help each other through this difficult time. "He told me, that Jordan hasn't cried once since his dad died."

"I can't think what that did to him." Gia commented. "And what about that whole thing? The General wasn't even his dad? I mean...I know I've sometimes wished my dad wasn't my dad, there was some mistake or something...but to find out like that...?"

"I doubt there's a great way to find out." Emma sighed. "But just imagine, how he found out...he only found out when he couldn't donate the blood...the blood the General needed to survive."

"I was trying not to think about that part." Gia replied with a shudder. "I just wish Jordan would, you know, show us some emotion. Let us know what's going on in his head."

"Yeah, Jordan's never been too great at that." Emma answered.

"And look how that's ended in the past." Gia replied.

"I know, but unless he lets us in on what he's thinking, there's not much we can do." Emma answered dejectedly. "Until then, all we can do is give him space, and hope he talks to someone before..."

"Before he goes all Psycho Robo Knight?" Gia asked. Emma didn't answer, but that was a huge concern for all of them. "There's something else isn't there?"

"It's just a thought I've been having." Emma told her. "Metal Alice went after the General...but she hasn't gone after any of the rest of our families."

"Maybe..."

"Gia, think about it, it's been over a week since it happened, and we haven't seen or heard a thing from her." Emma reminded her. Gia was about to answer, but thinking about it, she had to admit that it was odd. She had murdered the General, but hadn't done anything else since then. She hadn't even shown up anywhere, or sent any form of attack, at all. It was almost as if the General had been her only intended target. It was almost like she hadn't come back, because she had accomplished what she wanted to. "Why hasn't she done anything since then?"

"Hey Emma, do you have your camera?" Quinn called over.

"I always do." Emma replied, reaching for her camera bag.

"Well, why don't you get a few shots of us together?" Allison asked her. "When the guys stop kicking the crap out of each other, maybe we'll get them to join us."

"I doubt it'll take long for them to lose interest in soccer." Emma chuckled as she heard the jingle of an ice-cream truck coming up the path. Gia made her way beside Quinn and Allison, posing for them. "Alright guys, everybody smile."

Meanwhile, in the underwater base, Metal Alice was continuing her work on completing the systems, when her internal chronometer became aware of the time. It was early in the day, long before the humans would operate at peak efficiency, but late enough that the Rangers would be up and about. She turned to the corner, where Rotox was powering up.

"Now Rotox, the time has come for the Rangers to face the new generation of destructive technology." She told him as she powered him up for the attack. "Show them why extinction is the inevitable end of their pathetic species."

With that, she activated a command, and Rotox teleported out of the base, heading for the city.

Back at the park, the Rangers, Quinn and Allison were all sitting out on the grass, enjoying some ice-cream. It looked like it was going to be a pleasant day all in. Jordan was quiet, but they had pretty much expected that by now.

"These pictures really turned out great." Allison complimented Emma as she scrolled through them on the camera. "You're going to have to send me a copy."

"No problem." Emma said with a little smile as she pulled Troy into herself. "I always appreciate fans of my photography."

"Your work's really great." Quinn told her. "Mr Evans' been talking about doing a new brochure for the wildlife park for ages, maybe I can talk to him about hiring you."

Before she could answer, their morphers all bleeped. Troy excused himself and got up, heading a safe distance from them.

"Um...what was that?" Quinn asked them. Noticing Jake and Noah stumbling around their words, trying to find a suitable explanation, Gia looked to Emma, who had a little bit of a smug smile. It was one issue that they now no longer had. Cat knew about them, and had done for a while. Troy, well, he was one of them, and now with Eric and Louise knowing about them, they wouldn't have to lie anymore when their morphers sounded an alert. Gia knew that she would probably consider suggesting to the others that they let some of those they trusted in on their secret.

"It's...um..." Noah stammered, trying to come up with an explanation.

"Guys, it's that delivery we were waiting on." Troy told them as he got back. "We need to go."

"Sorry Allison, it looks like we're going to have to cut this short." Jake told her.

"What kind of delivery?" Quinn asked as they all started to gather up their things.

"It's...it's a surprise." Noah stammered out. "It's something Jake and Emma are planning for Thanksgiving."

Both of them just glared at Noah. It was an explanation of sorts, but it also kind of landed the in it. Being the Senior Class President, and Vice President, it wouldn't be too hard to believe that they'd be responsible for setting something up for Thanksgiving for the school. Of course, that now meant they would actually have to...and he was pretty sure they had other things on their minds.

"Really? Is it a float for the pep rally?" Allison asked, looking excited.

"Um...it's...quite something." Jake replied. "You'll have to wait and see."

"We'll...uh...we'll meet you at the Brainfreeze!" Gia chipped in. "We'll be there soon!"

As they all ran off, Noah felt two hands slapping him across the back of the head.

"Ow, sorry, it was all I could think of!" He protested.

"Well, you're helping us with it." Jake replied. "Cause right now, I'm drawing a blank.

In the Warehouse district, Rotox was making his way through the area, making no effort to hide himself. He wasn't programmed for stealth, he was programmed for combat, and he only had one objective, the Rangers and Robo Knight. Doing a quick analysis of the district, he powered up to 21 percent of his maximum power, finding no significant threats to himself in the area.

Building up momentum, he turned himself into a wheel, and drove himself straight through the wall of a warehouse, sending concrete and steel flying. He quickly resumed his warrior mode and started to look around, analysing the threat level in the area. Numerous workers had already started to panic and scatter seeing him.

There were a few explosive chemicals and compounds in the area, but after a quick analysis, he surmised nothing had the force required to penetrate his armour, and so he proceeded with stage one of his plan. His programming informed him that most of the city's production came from this neighbourhood. If it was destroyed, it would take weeks for industry to recover. The statistical probability of the rangers showing up to stop him quickly was over ninety nine percent.

After blasting some gas tanks, setting off an explosion and starting a fire that would quickly engulf this warehouse, and would probably spread quickly to neighbouring units, he pursued the workers. His data informed him that the Rangers paid more attention to humans in danger than mere property damage.

"The reign of robots is at hand!" He called out, beginning to open fire at the fleeing robots. He checked his internal chronometer. The average response time for a monster attack was approximately 3 minutes 37 seconds. It wouldn't be long before they showed up. He increased his power output to 39 percent in preparation for their arrival.

On the way to the Warehouse district, Jordan's cell phone started to ring. He checked the caller ID, finding a name appearing on the screen that had been programmed in only days before. He cursed loudly as he stopped. The other Rangers noticed him stopping and followed suit.

"Jordan!" Gia called out. "Come on!"

"It's the cops!" Jordan replied as he answered. General Edward's murder was still an ongoing murder investigation. Jordan couldn't exactly explain who had really killed him without having to answer a whole lot of questions as to who he really was. He had also been found at the scene with a few injuries himself from his battle with Metal Alice earlier in the day. In a desperate attempt to find something he could tell the police, he had come up with a story that he had walked in on a home invasion. He'd tried to be as sparing as possible with the details, but the fact was a murder investigation was still a pretty big deal, even in a city like Harwood where sadly, casualties were becoming a fact of life. A detective had given Jordan his number and informed him he'd call if he had any information.

"Jordan, this is Detective Barnes." A voice on the other end began. "I'll try not to take up too much of your time. We think we might have found a lead in the case."

"Right, um..." Jordan started to say, trying to think of what exactly he could say or do about it. He held a hand over the mouthpiece. "It's Detective Barnes."

"What?" Jake asked. "Well...what does he want?"

"That's...um...what do you have?" Jordan asked him.

"I'm sorry, but I'd really rather not discuss the matter over the phone." Detective Barnes told him. "There are some things we need to talk about. How soon can you be at the station?"

Jordan covered the mouthpiece with his hand again, looking to the others.

"He wants me to go to the station." He told the others. "He wants me to answer some questions."

Troy thought about it for a moment, before looking to Jordan.

"Go." He told Jordan.

"Troy..."

"We've got no idea how long this'll take." Troy reminded him. "We really don't need to get the cops looking too closely at you."

"But Troy, the police station is miles away!" Emma reminded him. "It'll take Jordan ages to get there an back!"

"Look, we want you with us too, but this is important." Troy told him. "Go and find out what Detective Barnes wants, and get back to us as soon as you can."

Jordan hated this idea. He hadn't had the chance to let out his anger in all this time, and the first time an opportunity came up, he was being forced to run off and talk to the police, waste time with an investigation that he already knew was pointless. He already knew who the killer was, and he knew that it was more likely he could bring her to justice than any police investigation could. In the end though, he couldn't doubt what Troy had said. For now, he was the grieving son, who should want the police to do everything they could to find his dad's killer. If he didn't act like it, he would only arouse suspicion.

"I can be there soon." Jordan told him.

"You're underage, so you'll need an adult with you." Detective Barnes told him. "I can arrange for someone to be here."

"Thanks." Jordan answered. "I'll be there soon."

As he hung up, he cursed loudly, and looked like he was going to throw his cell phone away, but looked to the others.

"I'm sorry about this guys." He told them. "I'll be as quick as I can."

"Just take care." Troy answered as Jordan ran in the opposite direction, before they resumed their journey.

As they made their way to the Warehouse District, they morphed, arriving prepared for battle. Hearing some screams from one of the factories, they arrived to see some workers being chased away.

"What kind of monster is that?" Jake asked, seeing Rotox standing before them. He looked completely unlike anything they had faced before now. Completely armoured, with a battery of guns across most of his body, on a kind of rotating wheel, he looked bizarre, even compared to what they were used to.

"That's not a monster." Noah replied, performing a quick scan of it. His visor showed that this was the source of the high power level Tensou had warned them about, but most importantly, it showed no life signs whatsoever. "That's...that's a robot."

"I guess Metal Alice finally decided to play the first card in her deck." Troy stated. "It doesn't matter either way. He's going down."

Rotox scanned the Rangers, assessing their threat level, before coming up with his opening strategy. He raised his power levels to 68 percent output to be on the safe side.

"So, you're the Power Rangers huh?" He asked as he transformed into his wheel form. "Let me show you how I roll!"

He revved up, before burning off, rolling towards them at incredible speed. The Rangers tried to avoid him, but before they were prepared for the assault, he managed to smash through all of them, leaving them all struggling on the ground. Still a little stunned, Noah started to pull himself to his feet.

"Show us how he rolls?" Noah groaned as he steadied himself on his feet. "Man, even when the enemies are robots they still come with pointless bad puns. Why would Metal Alice waste the programming space?"

"That was brutal." Gia grumbled, nodding in agreement.

"He totally needs one of those 'how's my driving' stickers." Jake complained.

"That was a blast!" Rotox called out, firing off his battery of cannons. The resulting explosions drove the Rangers back into one of the warehouses, and left them more than a little shaken up. It was quickly becoming apparent that since switching from biological monsters to robots, their opponents weren't becoming any weaker.

"You humans really are weak!" He commented as he arrived in the doorway. "There's no way you'll break through my defences. Magna beam!"

Before they knew what was happening, he brought what had to be over a ton of scrap metal flying towards him, before forming it into a shield.

The Rangers fired off a salvo from their Megaforce Blasters, but far from doing any noticeable harm, all the shots rebounded harmlessly off his shield.

"Not a Scratch!" He stated, almost as though taunting them.

"What?" Gia screeched. "How?"

"My shield protected me, but nothing will protect you from my shield!" He yelled, throwing the bladed shield at them. Figuring out the angles, he caused it to rebound off a beam, slicing through the Rangers, before hitting a corner and flying back to him. The Rangers found themselves once more on the ground.

"No way!" Gia complained. "This guy's relentless, there's no opportunity to counter, he just keeps attacking!"

"He's a machine, he must not tire like the other monsters." Noah reminded them.

"Just once, I wish you could give us some good news." Jake said as they prepared for another attack.


End file.
